Folsomjack

New here trying to find value on a dozen or so I have had for a long time,. One is a 50th special edition Paramount ,62CM, deep purple metallic ( looks black) frame (I will strip it of all the Campy parts), A Klein Medusa and several others. The response here and other sites seems to indicate little or no real value. Am I missing some-thing??

thenomad

Yes, more details on the bikes.
Are you just looking for $ profit or do you care about riding?

Are they really classic bikes or just old bikes? A 'classic' implies it is indeed of higher value than just another 'old' bike.

shoota 

Pretty sure the 50th ed Paramount is worth money..

lasauge 

Nope, not worth anything, better send those to me for proper recycling.

Okay, the real problem when we start talking about the "value" of classic bikes is that the amount they can be sold for is hugely variable - some of us live places where it can take weeks to sell a very nicely cleaned up older bike for $100, while other bikes (like René Herse bikes) are worth tens of thousands to collectors. Is a single René Herse worth 100 mid-range Peugeots? To a collector who wants something really rare and stunningly attractive to hang on their wall? Maybe. To someone who wants a bike so they can ride around and enjoy the sunshine a couple times a week? No way. Quality, utility, and scarcity aren't the only factors that determine the the value of a bike - aesthetics, nostalgia, and personal attachments are just as important and make pricing old bike stuff complicated.

If you're not sure what price to ask for the things you'd like to sell, you can't go wrong putting them on a certain -bay auction site to see what the market will bear.

big chainring 

I had an eye opener today. Was showing someone my '73 Raleigh Gran Sport. Their comment was,
"well the frame is cool, but all the components need to be replaced".
I said everything is in great condition, plenty of life left in the original components.
"Those components are garbage, worthless. Old brakes, derailleurs, wheels. That bike needs all new components. Only thing of value is the frame".
Wow! To 99.9% of the cycling public thats how things are viewed. Gear shifter on the downtube? Leather saddle? And what are those old components, Stronglight? Huret? GB? Simplex?
It really made me think. And now i am beginning to understand. My affection for old bikes with old components is kinda unique to me and just a handful of others. Good thing I guess us I can continue collecting what I view as desirable bikes with little investment. But when its time to sell I won't realize much from it.

etherhuffer 

Well, they are sort of right. But only so far as having too big of a front ring or really wimpy brakes. I still use freewheel hubs because there is not a need for more than 7 rear cogs. The only other thing I can think of is old zinc spokes, which are fine if in good condition, but most are long since corroded. The other thing I can think of is a seatpost. Some old turds with post+clamp design suck.

cehowardGS

Yes, to the people that adore, cherish and ride them.. That kind of value is almost priceless..

20grit

Are you trolling or trying to drum up interest to sell your bike?

Bandera

Are you trying establish insurance value?

To have someone else research "what the market will bear" _bay pricing for you?

Fishing for potential buyers in the C&V stream w/o paying for the privilege?

A "dozen or so" indicates more than cursory interest and a "long time" gets into collection territory IMHO.

You know how much you have in them in old money, adjust for inflation.

-Bandera

RobbieTunes

First, define "REAL"


On the Forums main page, under C&V, try the evaluation inquiry.
If you do the work to provide specificity, pictures and information, people here will provide you with what they know. Just throwing it out there in general, as you see, does not garner much.

Welcome to the forum.

repechage

I think you need to define REAL value.

Utility?

Investment potential?

Value today in today's market? (if so, condition is everything and so is size, on the size front you are outside of the mean on the Paramount) Klein has a lesser following but again, condition and size is king.
Then you have to decide how you wish to market them and how much time and energy you are willing to invest further beyond owning the bikes.
Taking the bikes apart to the frame set level is often done, it has advantages of making a unit easier to ship.

cyclotoine

depending on your line of work, stripping bikes will get you more return but not necessarily be worth the labour. People like to spend many smaller sums even if they spend more in the end. Vintage folks like to build their bikes as opposed to finding one complete, so you are on the right track. You are not going to find a firm valuation for your bike, no. There is not blue book on vintage bikes and everyone is an expert so there is no one place you can go an ask what it is worth and expect other people to believe that. Collectors are treasure hunters and want a bargain. Your paramount is worth good money for sure, but how much no one can no for certain till you find a buyer. The quickest and easiest way to do that is with ebay. The audience is massive and someone on every forum is watching it and will out it for you if they think it is something special and everyone will debate on how much it will sell for. If by REAL you mean a price guide that will get you in the ball park of how much money you can sell your bike for today.... well the answer to your question is NO, the is no REAL value to vintage bikes.

ThermionicScott 

Intrinsic value? Sure, the metal is always worth something.

rootboy 

Yes. "something" is not hyphenated.

3alarmer 

Hi Jack, I'm the guy who e-mailed you about your parts/tools/etc., so I live in your same market area,
and I follow the CL ads here and in the SF Bay area from time to time because I need to set prices
to sell the stuff that gets donated to the bike co-op.

It's a hard question to answer, certainly it can be a struggle to sell stuff locally here that is a very
nice older bike because :

1. there's a limited market audience for your ads on CL, and a lot of them don't really know good from bad from great.

2. cabron fiber bikes, brifters, and low spoke count, deep V wheels have sucked a lot of the money and interest away.

3. it's just genuinely difficult to sell a bike on CL here for much more than about 300 bucks. That's just how it is, and to
top it off, you have to find the right guy who is also the right size for your bike.......it can be painful, given that a lot
of your CL responses are from scammers/guys looking for your e-mail address/spammers/lowballers and flippers.

It's discouraging....................

OTOH, there is a much larger community of people with more money looking for this stuff down in the Bay Area.
And it's not that hard to run copies of your ads down in the East Bay CL, where they are closer to us.



I think your biggest problem is not doing photos with your ads. I have to go out of town next week, but if you
want me to shoot some digital photos with the same camera I use for the pictures I post here and on the
Bike Kitchen's CL ads, maybe I can come out there and set you up with some images.

One picture worth a thousand words and all that stuff.




I think I'd have a hard time selling any of the bikes in my garage for any where near what they're worth to me....
I already know (she's told me) that my wife's gonna have a yard sale when I croak and sell them for fifty bucks apiece..
She really wants to be able to park in that damn garage.............

Scooper

In reference to the Paramount specifically, I believe all of the 1988 model year Paramounts had the 50th anniversary decals. There were approximately 600 1988 "Limited Edition" 50th anniversary framesets built that had gold plated forks. These limited edition framesets are generally more desirable to collectors, but are mostly wall hangers as the gold plating is pretty thin and most collectors don't want to risk damage to the forks by riding them. Personally, I can't imagine stripping the Campy components and just selling the frameset as most prospective serious collectors would pass since acquiring the period correct components separately would be very expensive.

Here's one that was owned by Ray Dobbins.

https://www.raydobbins.com/ebay/bike-...-paramount.htm

3alarmer 

I've seen his ads..........I think he's here with a legit question and would request you cut him some slack.

noglider 

It's worth what you get for it. If you sell parts off a bike one by one, you get a lot for it, since there are bike nuts like us willing to pay for it. If that's not real value, what is?

IthaDan 

Value, sure there's value. Is there 'plan your retirement around it' value? Not unless you're buying a LOT of bikes.

You can buy a world class bike, new or used for $10k. That's a three year old Kia. No one bike is going to be worth a life altering amount of money.

repechage

"the response here and other places..." With 4 posts, he has not had that much participation to warrant that claim fully. If he has attempted to sell the bikes on CL or similar venue, then there might be a marketing or presentation failure.
That and CL in general is not a place for selling expensive bicycles, young or old, and I have no idea on the Folsom market. My best guess is that it is thin in the vintage end.

OldsCOOL

I've been looking for a worthless Colnago near dumptsters but I guess they've gone to salvage yards already. ***SIGHHHH***

Folsomjack

That is exactly what I am finding, If it's not plastic crap ,it's worthless, thanks, Jack

Folsomjack

I have Klein's prototype "Medusa" in medium blue

Folsomjack

Thanks I'm in the 50th $100 had it 15 years, should be worth what $160 now???

Folsomjack

Thanks for that but I can't do pic's. I just figured any-one would know what a 50th in excellent original condition in deep purple metallic 62CM. Guess I am wrong on that